Castiel's Dream
by RackOnInNC
Summary: AU - set in the show world of the American Saddlebred horse.  My world! Friendship Dean Castiel and a few OCs.  No slash. Self-indulgent as all get out, but I hope you enjoy.  See notes for some explanation of terms.


**This is a tad self-indulgent it involves an AU in the little known American Saddlebred horse world…my world.  
>My pen name will at least make sense to you once you have read it though. I don't even really care if nobody<br>reads it...it would be nice though!**

**Our World Championship Show is held each year in August in Louisville, KY so when I refer to Louisville this  
>is what I'm talking about.<strong>

**The CH status I mention is an award that we give to horse that win many classes over a period of time. They  
>earn points at shows depending on how they place and once they have earned 18 points they have their CH status.<strong>

**Saddlebreds are somewhat unique in the horse world because they walk, trot, and canter like most horses, but  
>also can be taught to do two more gaits called the slow gait and the rack.<strong>

**We say a horse has lots of chrome when they have a white socks on their legs and/or white on their face.**

**A "Hand" is 4 inches. Most Saddlebreds are close to sixteen hands, some over 17.**

**We use a saddle called a cutback that is flat and sits close to the horse. It looks like this:**

http:/www freedmanharness

**Here are some additional links to help you understand if you want to:**

**Just put the periods into the spaces to get there**

**Some highlight videos from last years WC**

http:/www usefnetwork com/ASHALive/WCHS2010/

**An overview of the different divisions we show in**

http:/www asha net/Breed-Show-Ring

**The American Saddlebred is mostly known these days as "The Peacock of the Show Ring",**  
><strong>and most people that know of them think they are only shown in the one discipline, but there are also<br>Saddlebred ****Jumpers, Eventers, Carriage, Mounted Cowboy Shooting and Dressage horses. They make  
>great trail horses too! And no they don't all cost $2 million...I am probably exaggerating a tad there,<br>but in the upper echelons of any equestrian sport the price tags are ridiculous. **

**Saddlebreds were used by many in colonial days because they were comfortable to ride. Robert E. Lee's  
>horse Traveller <strong>**was a Saddlebred. TV's Mr. Ed was half Saddlebred and the horse used in Gone With the  
>Wind for Ashley Wilkes to ride <strong>**off to the Civil War on was a 3-gaited American Saddlebred show horse by  
>the name of Anacacho Rebel.<strong>

**One last note. If you have watched jumping/dressage on TV the crowd is very quiet. We Saddlebred people**  
><strong>(and our horses) love noise when we show...the more the better. "Yeah boy", wolf whistles, screaming,<strong>  
><strong>yelling, urging your favorite on is all encouraged.<strong>

**OK enough of that but I wanted you to be able to understand if you wanted to, but you can probably read  
><strong>**it without any of that if you don't mind wondering about the terminology.**

**No slash, just eventual friendship. Rated T for a little bit of cussing.**

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

Dean noticed _him_ as soon as his new horse arrived at the barn. A new groom so unlike all the others in the barn.  
>He kept to himself, doing as he was asked with a quiet grace and gentleness with the horses that mesmerized Dean.<br>He wasn't bad looking either. Not overly muscular, but slim and wiry with muscles toned from years of hard work…not  
>gyms…dark tousled hair...and otherworldly blue eyes that sparkled with an inner joy as he worked with that one particular horse.<br>Dean's horse.

This new horse his parents had bought for him, Castiel's Dream, was the talk of the horse show circuit last season  
>when she showed up at Louisville and won the Junior 5-Gaited World's Championship in her only show ever. No one<br>knew anything about the horse before then. Even her true owner was a mystery since she was registered to a  
>Corporation that seemed to solely to exist for the purpose of owning the horse.<p>

Dean's parents were wealthy…really wealthy…more money than God wealthy. They had poured millions over the  
>years into horses, training and riding lessons for Dean and still didn't have a World Championship to show for it.<br>Dean just wanted to win his first World's Championship. All of his close friends had, even friends whose parents  
>weren't rich like his. Everyone said he could ride the hair of a horse, but he never seemed to get it right when it<br>really counted. There was always a misstep, a missed canter lead, a miniscule mistake that meant he was second  
>and not first.<p>

They bought the best horses for him…horses that previously had won World's Championships…horses that already  
>had their CH status, but none of them delivered for Dean. Or maybe Dean wasn't delivering from them. He wasn't<br>sure. He also had no idea why they bought this particular horse for him.

She was a total unknown, unruly and hard to ride. No one had even seen her work outside of the show grounds at  
>Louisville. His Mother saw her show and decided they had to have her and that was that. Negotiations through the<br>relatively unknown trainer that had shown her her were difficult. The owner didn't want to sell. They kept coming back  
>with higher and higher offers until the price reached $2 million. At that point the owner agreed and the deal was done…<br>still with no idea who the mystery owner was.

Dean didn't even know if he could ride her. Today would be the test. She had arrived several weeks earlier and the  
>trainer had been working with her to get her ready for Dean. Although they had tried to keep it a secret from him, he<br>had heard through the grapevine that his trainer had been thrown three times since she arrived. Dean had never  
>seen his trainer get thrown and it scared him a little. He had always said he'd ride anything once, but this was something<br>he wasn't sure he was prepared for. He wasn't going to let it show though.

The new groom was leading her out of the stall now, and Dean got his first real look at her. She was big…really big…  
>over 17 hands at least…and muscular. Imposing. It was unusual for a horse so young to be so filled out. Most black<br>horses weren't truly black, but she was. The stark black was set off by plenty of chrome…a large white blaze and four  
>nearly identical white socks. The look in her eyes was wild, but Dean noticed that when <em>he <em>touched her gently she turned  
>her head and nuzzled him gently.<p>

As she approached Dean he held his hand out and let her sniff it. She drew back with that wild look again, but Dean  
>squared his shoulders and proceeded to gather his reins and show her who was boss. The new groom looked down<br>disapprovingly, but said nothing. Dean didn't care...what did some damn groom know anyway. It was a course of action he  
>would regret later.<p> 


End file.
